


Groomed For Greatness

by Deiohx



Series: Groomed au [1]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Animal Death, Anxiety, Attemped Suicide, Attempted Murder, Backstory, Blood, Capture, Child Abuse, Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Danicing, Depression, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Flashbacks, Fluff, Guns, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Interrogation, Kissing, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse, Patryk and Paul are basically Tord’s parents in this, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prison, Red Army, Resistance, Slow Burn, Song: La Vie En Rose, Strangulation, Tom drinks maybe a bit too much, Tord Redemption, Torture, Waterboarding, World Domination, anger issues, but he won’t admit it, edit : it has now been beta read, fight me, groomed au, i don’t know what the plot is, i just wanted to make Tord suffer, mention of suicide, tom tries to help, tord is not okay, tord needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deiohx/pseuds/Deiohx
Summary: After being betrayed by his generals, Tord gets captured by the resistance. He doesn’t want to see or talk to anyone, but Tom isn’t having any of that, and accidentally gets closer to Tord than he thought was possible....Or, Tom gets a better understanding of Tord and tries to help him
Relationships: Patryck/Paul (Eddsworld), Tom/Tord (Eddsworld)
Series: Groomed au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2062773
Comments: 8
Kudos: 110





	Groomed For Greatness

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for an au I made up, and thought I’d share it with all of you.
> 
> The songs at the end of the story is “ I’m still standing” and “ la vie en rose”.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one shot as much as I enjoyed writing it

His head hurt. His eyes blinked open to look up at the gray concrete ceiling. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t his ceiling. Or his bed. This one was rather hard to lay on.. This wasn’t his room, it was plain and grey.

A desk with a chair stood next to the bed. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, but it was turned off. A tiny window was the only light source into the room. It was small and narrow, and it’s position close to the ceiling indicated that the room was halfway underground. It almost looked like a prison cell. His eye opened wide as his memories returned.

His own generals had turned on him. His army had cast him out. And the two people he saw as family, had drugged him. He could still feel it running through his system. The dizziness swarming his head.  
He tried to sit up, but as he moved, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and he fell back against the pillow again. He clenched his teeth and looked down. His chest was covered in bandages, and a red spot under his ribs suggested he’d most likely been shot. He also noticed his robot arm was gone. It was gonna make breaking out of here much harder. 

Tord tried to breathe through the pain, he had to get up. He’d been shot and drugged before, and he’d been through worse. He looked out at the room again to check out his surroundings. He noticed he was wearing pants, that definitely weren’t his own. It was a pair of gray sweat pants, and his socks were left on. His eyes travelled up into the lense of a security camera.  
But unbeknownst to him, he was being watched through that security camera in the corner of the room. 

Edd turned around in the office chair to look at the other four people in the room  
“It seems like he’s waking up. Who should break the news to him?” He asked.  
Matt, who sat next to Edd, looked away, not wanting to be left alone with Tord of all people. Tom and Edd both looked at the two former red soldiers. 

Patryk and Paul had given over their coats and weapons when they entered the resistance base. Even though they weren’t locked up like Tord, they still felt very unwelcome. Paul looked up at Patryk, wanting to hear his partner’s thoughts. 

Patryk has a light frown on his face as he watched Tord wither in pain on the tiny screen.  
“We should do it. We are the ones who brought him here after all.” Patryk said and looked at Paul. He gave a light nod in agreement.  
“Yeah, maybe he’s still drugged enough to stay calm.” he said. 

Edd nodded “Yeah, bring him some food and check on his wound while you’re in there.” he said and turned back to the screen, a soft sigh leaving his lips as he saw Tord try to get up again. Tom looked at the two soldiers.  
“Follow me.” was all he said as he led them out of the room.

……….

Tord had finally managed to sit up, his feet were planted on the floor and waiting for him to stand up. A light sweat covered his forehead as he tried to force himself up on his feet, but before he could, the sound of the door being unlocked caught his attention. It opened up to reveal Patryk and Paul’s smiling faces, and Tord was sure he caught a glimpse of Tom before the doors closed after them. Tord glared at the two, and he could see they looked uneasy. Patryk was holding a tray with a bowl and a cup of water on it. 

A tense silence fell over the room. Paul was the first one to break it, he couldn’t take having Tord look at him like that. 

“We brought you food. We tried to get you something easy and they were serving mashed potatoes so..“ Paul said looking at the floor as Patryk walked over and placed it on the bed next to Tord. 

Tord didn’t even look at it, his glare fixed on Paul as he talked. He wasn’t interested in eating, he only wanted answers. 

“You should lay back down, you might rip a stitch.“ Patryk said and touched Tord’s shoulder, but it was hit away.  
“Don’t touch me.” Tord glared “Where am I?” He asked. 

Patryk looked a bit shocked, Tord had never talked to him in that tone of voice. He looked to Paul, who had a worried frown and his eyes begged Patryk to say it. Patryk sighed and looked back down at Tord.  
“ We’re at a resistance base,” he said. Tord frowned and asked in a sharp tone “Why.” It was more an order than a question. 

Paul crossed his arms and looked at the floor “We had to get you out of the red army base. You got shot, we didn’t have a choice.” he said.  
Tord frowned “And they just let you two walk around their base. But lock me up?” He asked, Patryk slowly offered the bowl of mashed potatoes to him “We’ve um… we’ve been planning this for a few months,” he said. Tord froze, they’d been planning it?.. They had been planning to betray for months.. They’d been lying to his face for months.. He was completely alone now. 

Tord didn’t even realize he said anything before Paul asked him to repeat himself.  
“Get out,” Tord said under his breath. Paul and Patryk looked at each other.  
“Tord, we know this looks bad but we only did this-“ Paul started but Tord cut him off.

“Get out!” He yelled and threw the bowl at him, Paul ducked and it smashed against the wall, mashed potatoes getting everywhere.  
“Forsvinn!” Tord yelled. They stepped away and opened the door, leaving Tord alone to process what little information they had given him. The sound of the door locking again was all Tord heard before he completely lost himself to anger, throwing the rest of the tray against the wall as well.

…… 

Days passed before Tord calmed down, but he refused to acknowledge anyone was in the cell with him when Edd and Matt or whoever got sent in there to try and question him. Tord didn’t even look at them. He hadn’t gotten his bandages changed either. He refused to eat the food, he’d refused water too, but being dehydrated hurt more than he remembered. 

The hunger hurted just as much, Tord was tired and didn’t have much energy at the end of the week. His muscles were starting to sore, and trying to exercise were out of the question. 

Edd was growing impatient as well, they needed information about the red army’s strength, weaknesses, codes, names. Things Paul and Patryk couldn’t give them. But so far no one had gotten Tord to talk. And they couldn’t exactly torture the answers out of him.

But after another resistance base got attacked in France, Tom had enough. They needed to have the upper hand for once, and Tord, ironically, were the only one able to give them that hand. Edd thought it was a bad idea to put Tom alone in a room with Tord. Too much history between them. 

But that didn’t stop Tom from grabbing the file with Tord’s name on it and locking the door to Tord’s cell. Edd knocked on it and yelled at Tom, but it was clear Tom wasn’t gonna listen. The eyeless man grabbed the chair by the desk, turned it around and sat in front of Tord on the bed. Edd stopped knocking and left after a few minutes, letting Tom do as he pleased. 

The file laid on the desk besides Tom. It was full of any information they had about Tord and a list of questions they needed answered. But unlike Edd and Matt, Tom didn’t ask Tord anything. He just leaned back and watched the norski on the bed. Tord laid on his back, it was the most comfortable way to lay without feeling pain from his wound. His arm laid over his stomach and the stub of Tord’s other arm was in clear view to Tom. 

The two sat like that in silence, neither one interested in breaking it first. Edd and Matt watched from the control room, just in case either one of the two men tried anything. After half an hour Tom pulled out a flask and began to sip it slowly and loudly, clearly trying to annoy the man on the bed. 

After two hours, Tord finally looked over at Tom.  
“You can’t let a man die in peace, can you?” He asked. Tom shook his head after another sip “Nope, but you almost got me tipsy.” he said and screwed the lit back on to the flask “Ready to talk?” Tord glared and looked back at the ceiling “I’m not talking to anyone.” he said “Especially not you.”

“Want some?” He asked and offered Tord the half empty flask. Tord frowned “No, I’m not a goddamn alcoholic like you.” he said. Tom shrugged “If I was trying to starve myself, I’d at least want to be shitfaced while doing so,” Tord looked away “And that says more about you than me.”

Tom would be rolling his eyes if it was possible “Alright, but you should seriously eat something. Malnourishment really doesn’t help the scar situation.” he said and waved his hand over half of his own face. Tord glared at the ceiling. 

“I’m not hungry,” but right as those words left his mouth, his stomach rumbled and Tord made a weird face. 

“It seems like your body disagrees.” he said and looked at the desk to see a bowl full of cold soup and an empty glass. “Why don’t you eat?” He asked. Tord gave a soft laugh “Ha, eat your food? You people are probably too scared to get your hands dirty and would poison the food to get rid of me,” he said and looked at Tom “And I’ve been poisoned before. Not a big fan of it.” 

Tom took the bowl “It’s not poisoned. Here, look.” he said and grabbed a spoonful of soup, he made sure to make a real show out of it.  
“Mmmmmhmmm, cold tomato soup, how delicious.” he said and licked the spoon before dropping it back into the bowl again.  
“Eat.”  
He handed the bowl back to Tord. 

Tord looked disgusted at the bowl, it was gross to eat with something Tom had just licked to mock him, but his stomach hurt more than he would like to admit. 

“For faen også.” he mumbled and grabbed the bowl, he sat up and leaned back against the wall at the head of the bed and started to eat. Tord felt like throwing up. 

Tom just leaned back in his seat “See? You’ll probably feel like shit afterwards since you insisted on starving yourself, but you’ll live.” he shrugged. Tord just rolled his eyes and kept eating the cold soup, almost regretting not eating it whilst it was hot. Almost. 

Tom tried to get Tord to talk more after he finished eating, but apparently Tord was done talking. Tom got up, grabbed the file and went to the door.  
“See you tomorrow, commie.” he said and closed the door. Tord just sank in on himself and leaned his arm against his knee, resting his head against the wall  
“Jehovah’s Witness...” he mumbled. 

Tom walked down the halls to the security room, knowing Edd would be waiting for him there. He opened the door and Edd looked over at him.  
“What was that? You didn’t ask him any of the questions on the list. You didn’t even look at the file.” he said and got up. Tom handed the file back to him “And yet I got him to eat and talk, it’s progress.” he said. 

Matt nodded from his own seat “ he’s right. Maybe we should leave this to Tom?”. Edd sighed “ but it’s slow progress, we need answers now”. Tom crossed his arms “ and you think interrogating that communist like you have is gonna make it faster?” He asked “ just let me handle it, cause apparently I’m the only one able to read Tord right” he said and went to leave for the night. 

………..

Edd agreed to leave the questioning to Tom after another failed session between himself and Tord. And for some reason unknown to Edd, it worked. It was slow, but Tord would at least talk a bit to Tom. And it was… Odd to watch. It was just small conversations, mostly about the food, and how Tord’s wound was doing. 

He was doing better after finally eating properly again. Tord even let Tom help change his bandages after a few sessions. It almost seemed like the two were starting to become friends, weird and hating friends, but it was at least something. 

One session seemed to go extremely well, Tom managed to get a proper greeting from Tord and even made the norski laugh once. It was a good sign, maybe Tord was starting to become more cooperative as well. Tom could at least try. 

“You know, I think we should try and at least get some of these questions answered. It would help a lot.” Tom tried after Tord stopped laughing at something Tom said. Tom opened the file to look over some of the questions. 

Tord shook his head, his smile disappearing, “No, I don’t think so.” he disagreed.

Tom frowned, “Why not?” He asked and looked back up at him.  
“Because you’re still my enemy, I’m your prisoner. Just because we talk doesn’t mean I’m gonna give all my secrets over. I know the only reason I’m still alive is because you need me.” he said and crossed his legs.

“Why are you refusing to corporate?” Tom asked and closed the file.  
“Why are you protecting the red army? Your generals tried to kill you, we are your friends.” Tom said, the annoyance clear his voice. 

Tord tsked and looked away. “You've made it quite clear that I’m not your friend.” he dismissed and waved the burnt stub of his arm.  
Tom glared, “I’m not friends with this, Tord.” 

That caught Tord off guard.

Tom stood up, the chair scraping against the floor as it moved back.  
“I’m friends with the old Tord. I’m friends with the Tord who likes hentai, I’m friends with the Tord who once had a panic attack over the tune of ‘sunshine lollipops’, I’m friends with the Tord who once defended himself from zombies with nothing but a spoon and a fork.”

Tord frowned “I was never that Tord.” he glared up at Tom. 

“Bullshit. Haven’t you figured it out yet Tord. You can lie to Edd and Matt. You can make your army think you’re this powerful leader. You can make the whole world think you’re this unfeeling monster.” Tom jabbed a finger at his own chest. 

“But you can’t lie to me. You never could,” Tom pointed at Tord.  
“You’re angry and you’re scared, because for once in your life, you don’t have control over the situation, so you try to pretend like you do, by acting like this. But you’re lonely too.. And that’s why you’re willing to talk to me.”  
Tom walked closer, which only made Tord move further away. His back pressed back against the wall, trying to sink into it, he didn’t want Tom to come any closer to him. Tom towered over him, which made him feel even smaller.  
“I’m friends with the Tord who cared about his friends..”

And then Tom left. 

……………….

Tord couldn’t breath. He couldn’t move. He was squirming around on the table, his hands and feet strapped down, his knees lifting off the table as he tried to kick his legs, but it didn’t do anything. 

Tord couldn’t concentrate, his brain was on fire and screaming at him for air. The water ran over his face, entering through his nose and mouth, making him gag and choke on the water. His throat was swollen and his lungs burned as they filled with said fluids. 

The water then stopped and the towel over his face was removed. He coughed, trying to get the water out, his eyes wet and red from tears. His brain was screaming at him to breathe, but he had to focus. A man in a blue coat and a red turtleneck leaned down over him.

“Got anything to say number 69?” He asked. Tord panted and looked at a medal hanging over his head. He couldn’t see the man’s face, his vision was tuning in and out. “ Fuck… Off…” he panted and closed his eyes. The man chuckled. 

“Alright.” he turned to someone Tord couldn’t see, “Again” he ordered. 

Tord panicked as his face was covered by the same, wet towel from before and the water started pouring down over him again. He cried and screamed, but refused to give in. 

“Stop!” Tord sat up in the bed in cold sweat. His breathing is quick and hard. His eyes moved over the room. He noticed that he was still in the cell, in the resistance base.. Far away from that lab. 

Tord laid back down, covering his face with his shaking hand. He tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. He hadn’t had a nightmare like that in months. 

He tried to slow down his breathing, calm his nerves before it turned into a full on panic attack. He closed his mouth, breathing in for 4 seconds, holding it for 7, and exhaling again for 8. After a few minutes, Tord was finally relaxed. He turned onto his side and hugged the sheet, wanting any kind of comfort he could get in that moment. 

He missed his dads…

……… 

Tord didn’t sleep for the rest of the night, too scared of falling back into the same nightmare. Tom came around noon as he did most days. He looked over Tord, noticing the bags under his eyes, and frowned.  
“You look like shit. Is everything okay?” He asked. 

Tord looked up from his pillow and glared at him. He didn’t answer him and just moved to sit up against the wall. Tom took his seat in the chair, the file in hand.  
“So, wanna talk today?” Tom asked. 

“You know what’s annoying?” Tord started, but didn’t give Tom a chance to answer  
“Everyone wants me to answer their questions, but no one wants to answer mine.” 

Tom wasn’t sure what Tord was trying to do, but played along.  
“Yeah, sounds annoying.” Tord looked at the file in Tom’s hands.  
“I wanna make a deal,” he said. Tom frowned lightly. “What kind of deal? One with the devil or something?” He joked, but Tord didn’t laugh.  
“You answer my questions and I’ll answer yours,” he said. 

Tom’s mouth turned into a straight line as he thought. He placed the file in his lap  
“You do know there are certain things I can’t tell you. I can try and answer your questions, but I might not be allowed with certain ones.”

Tord shrugged “Yeah, I thought so. But then I might not answer all of yours either.” he said. Tom shrugged “That’s a deal I’m willing to take. You start.” he said and waved his hand to the side, like he offered Tord the first question. 

“Why am I here?” He asked. 

Tom gave a soft chuckle, “Haven’t you answered that question yourself? We need you to give us information and-“ Tord caught him off.  
“That’s not what I meant.” he said “Why have you kept me alive? I’m the most wanted person on the planet, I’ve committed countless war crimes, manslaughter, torture, I have no idea how long the list is. Killing me would be an example for the rest of the world, showing that the resistance aren’t something to be messed with.” he said. Tom was shocked to hear that, he didn’t exactly know what to say, he could lie and say it was because the resistance weren’t like the red army and didn’t kill people, but Tord would know it was a lie. Tom gulped “Because.. Okay, I can give you three reasons. we need you for answers like I said. But also because we hoped you’d join us, because we could really use your help. And Patryk and Paul told us we couldn’t hurt you in exchange for their information.” 

Tord tensed up at the mention of his parents names, but it made sense to him in a way. Paul and Patryk always did what they thought was best, even if they couldn’t do it right half the time. Tord nodded, satisfied with that answer. 

Tom opened the file and read the first question out loud.  
“Who is this man?” He asked and held up a picture of a bald man in a red army uniform. 

Tord looked with the disgust at the picture, “General Ivanson, he’s my.. Were my right hand man. Until he shot me.” he said and laid his hand over where his wound was healing.  
“He’s dangerous and well trained. A loyal soldier to the army.” 

Tom wrote it down on a clean piece of paper, even though he knew Edd and Matt were listening in with the security camera. Tom nodded slightly, “Wait, I thought Paul and Patryk were your right hand men?” He said. 

Tord tilted his head slightly and rubbed his neck.  
“Ehh it’s complicated, they’re more like my bodyguards, who are also my legal guardians.” he said. Tom wrote that down as well, “Okay, your turn.”

“ Where is my arm?” He asked and moved the stub of his right arm. Tom made a face.  
“Uhm.. I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you that, but I can reveal that Paul and Patryk are in charge of it.” he said. Tord nodded, “Okay then.”

They kept asking questions like that, Tom would go through the list of questions one after the other, and Tord would answer some and refuse to answer others.  
It just annoyed Tom that the questions he refused to answer were the ones about codes and locations. Tord would ask about different things, things about what was going on outside the base, what the red army had done so far, had they told the world Tord was off the throne?  
The answer to that was no, so the world still thought Tord was in charge. 

Tom sighed and closed the file, “I wanna ask you something, it’s not relevant or on the list, but I need to know.” Tord raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly to the side as he looked over Tom “Okay? What is it?”

“What made you like this? You used to be so normal before you moved away. What made you become this.. Dictator?” Tom asked, and saw how Tord paled at the question, Tord looked away from Tom.  
“I was never ‘normal’, Tom.” he said.  
Tom frowned “What happened to you?..” he asked in a calm voice. 

Tord didn’t meet his eyes, clearly more interested in his flat pillow, but it was clear Tom wasn’t leaving without an answer. Tord looked up at the camera in the corner. 

“I’m not telling you unless the camera gets turned off. I don’t want this documented.”

Tom nodded and pulled out a walkie talkie from his belt.  
“Edd turn the camera off. Over.” A few seconds passed before Edd’s voice broke out through the walkie talkie.

“What? No way, this might be a trick to over power you. Just continue with the questions on the list. Over.” Tom clicked the button down again “No. Turn the camera off, or you’re gonna have to find someone else to do this. Over,” The two men in the cell looked at the camera and saw the tiny light go out and the camera moving its head down to film the floor. 

“There, but Matt and I’ll be right outside the door. Over.” Edd said before Tom packed the walkie talkie away again. 

Tord looked from the camera to Tom.  
“Can they still hear us?” He asked. Tom shook his head “No, it’s just you and me now.” he said and threw the file back onto the desk along with his pen. He leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. 

“So?” 

Tord moved to show Tom his right shoulder.  
“I was groomed into being the red leader.” he admitted and rested his hand in his lap. Tom looked at his shoulder, it was faded but a tattoo of the red army symbol was still visible among the burnt scars.  
“Groomed? What do you mean?” He asked. 

“Over 20 years ago, the last red leader was getting old, and he wanted to make sure his legacy was protected. He wanted to create the perfect successor for the red army.” Tord explained “He created a program, and the red army took in hundreds of orphans around the world. Each child were given a number-“ Tom then interrupted him  
“What number were you?”

Tord blushed “I don’t wanna say.” he muttered.  
“Oh come on, what number were you?” Tom asked and crossed his arms. Tord glared at him.  
“69.” Tom tried to not chuckle, but only for Tord to throw his pillow at him, “Oh shut up, I didn’t pick it.” Tom laughed and threw the pillow back at him.  
“Sorry, okay so you were kidnapped by the red army-“  
“Adopted.”  
“Whatever,” Tom dismissed and continued, “What happened next?” 

Tord rolled his eyes “We were schooled and taught all the normal things between the ages 4 to 10. We were also taught in the values and history of the red army-” 

“So they brainwashed you?” Tom interrupted again.  
Tord glared “Stop interrupting me!” He yelled and closed his eyes and took a deep breath “And no. I mean, they did actually do brainwashing when the kids didn’t follow orders. They would strap us down to this chair and force us to watch videos, while ‘sunshine lollipops’ played.” Tord felt a shiver run down his spine. Tom nodded “Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense now.” 

Tord explained and leaned back against the wall, a light glare given to Tom.  
“Anyway. there were a lot of tests and a lot of the kids got sorted out of the program like that. When I was about 10, there were only about 10 of the kids left.” 

“What happened after you turned 10?” Tom asked 

“We were given legal guardians.” 

………… 

A young man looked down at a piece of paper, he moved his hand up to move one of his long bangs out of his eyes. He was trying to find his new partner, but had only been given the name of the soldier. He looked up again and tried to see if any of the other soldiers' name tags matched the name. He eventually found the guy off in the corner, leaning against the wall. The young man walked over and offered his hand. 

“You must be Paul, I’m Patryk, your partner for this mission.” The guy had to look up at him, and took his hand, “Yeah, nice to meet you.” he greeted, a light blush covering his cheeks.  
Patryk pointed at Paul’s name tag with his free hand, “You do know it’s turned upside down, right?”

Paul looked down at where Patryk was pointing “Oh, uh no. I’ll fix it later.” he said. They both looked down at their hands, realizing they hadn’t let go and were awkwardly holding hands. They were quick to let go, both fumbling to try and look professional. Patryk cleared his throat.  
“So um, why did you volunteer for this mission?” He asked and looked at some of the other soldiers. They all looked a lot older than Patryk and Paul, but then again, they were only in the start of their twenties. 

Paul shrugged “The pay looked good, and we get private rooms, so that’s a plus.” he chuckled, “Haven’t had that in years. Why did you volunteer?” Patryk smiled “I’d lie if I said the money wasn't one of the reasons. But I really wanted to be given a new mission. I was gonna die of boredom if I had to be stationed at some random base again.”  
Paul nodded “Oh I feel ya, but do you know anything about this mission?” Paul asked, only for Patryk to shake his head.  
“Nope, only that this has something to do with the red leader’s kid project.”

Then the doors opened and a man walked in, his chest was covered in medals, showing he was superior to the other soldiers in the room. All the soldiers stood up right and saluted him. 

“Nice to see everyone is here. I’m General Bonedust, and you’ll be reporting to me as long as you’re serving this mission.” the general spoke. His head was shaved and his jaw was strong. He was tall and muscular.  
Everything about him seemed to demand respect. 

A few people in lab coats walked around the soldiers and handed them files as the general continued to talk. Patryk was given their file, the number 69 written on it. Paul leaned over to look at it as Patryk opened it. 

“Your mission is to protect and raise one of the children from the red leader’s successor project. These files have all the information you need to know about the child in your possession.” General bonedust spoke loudly.

“You are not meant to bond with or love these children, only protect them. They’re safety outside the training is your responsibility. Keep them fed, clothed and alive.” he ordered. 

Patryk read through the file, only a few notes were written down about the kid number 69, all the other papers seemed to be written instructions for him and Paul to follow. 

Name : Tord Larson  
Nationality : Norwegian  
Age : 10 years  
Weight : 39 kg  
Height : 142 cm  
Allergies : None  
Parents : Deceased  
Notes : Strong accent, intelligent and curious, quiet, weak.  
Room : E1

The doors opened and 10 kids walked into the room, each one dressed in a red jumper with a number sewn over the chest. Tord held on to the strap of a duffel bag, all his clothes and belongings were inside that bag. He looked at all the adults in the room, nervous about what was going on. He was a bit confused about what was happenning, his English was still bad, but he knew he was being handed over to new people today, he just didn’t know who. 

“One of these 10 kids are gonna be our future leader, so try not to fuck them up.” General Bonedust said and pushed one of the kids towards the soldiers.

“Find you kid and go to the room assigned in the file. That will be your new living space for the next few years.“ and then the general turned around to walk out of the room again, but before he closed the door he said.  
“The training starts Monday morning at 07:00 AM. Have your child ready.” and then the door closed. 

Tord watched as he saw the other kids go up to the different adults to find their guardians. Tord bit his lip and tried to spot someone looking for him. Patryk and Paul were both a bit turned around, they thought they were gonna be a part of the training program, not raising a child. But now they had to reap what they’d sown. 

They spotted a kid with the number 69 sewn onto the red jumper and made their way over there. Tord tried not to move as two tall men stood in front of him. His hand shook as he saluted them “G-god day. I’m Tord.” he said, his accent thick.  
“Oh boy, we’re gonna have to teach him English too?” Patryk whispered to Paul, and Paul hit his arm. 

Paul got down on one knee, leveling with Tord.  
“Nice to meet you, Tord. I’m Paul, and this is Patryk.” he offered his hand, waiting for Tord to take it “We’ll take good care of you, don’t worry.” he smiled at him. Tord smiled back, still feeling nervous, but not as scared anymore.

…………

The first two years went smooth enough for Paul and Patryk. Raising Tord was easy, Tord was smart and wouldn’t need their help often. After coming home from the physical training, Tord would sometimes need help cleaning up, get a bandaid put on or ice put on a sore spot.  
But the first bump in the road happened when Tord was 12 years old. 

Patryk was whipping off the dishes as Paul scrubbed them and made the stack bigger in front of Patryk. Tord had gone to his room to do who knew what. 

“You’re awfully quiet today.” Paul noted and washed the soap off a plate “What’s on your mind?” He asked. 

Patryk’s shoulders sunk “Is that clear?” Paul gave a light chuckle.  
“I’ve lived with you for almost two years, it is to me.” he said and felt around in the sink for any more silverware.

Patryk picked up another plate with the dish towel. “I had to pick Tord up at the nurse’s office today.” he said. Paul frowned “Why? Is he okay?”  
Paul shrugged “I don’t know. The kids were shown some kind of instructional video on killing a person and apparently Tord passed out 5 minutes into it.” he put the plate down next to him.  
“General Bonedust said he had to get over it or Tord won’t last in the program.” he said. 

“He's a kid, his reaction is understandable, and he’ll probably out grow it.” Paul said and pulled the plug out of the sink.  
“And what if he doesn’t?” Patryk asked. 

Paul watched the water drain out of the sink “...Okay. I’ll take care of it.” He said and pulled out his phone “I gotta make a call.” he said and left the kitchen. 

When Tord walked into the kitchen Saturday morning he was met with Paul sitting at the table, a cage with a towel over it stood on the table. Paul pushed out the other chair with his boot.  
“Take a seat, kid.” he said. Tord looked confused but walked over and sat down in front of him, “Have I done something wrong?” He asked. 

Paul shook his head “No, but I have to teach you a lesson.” he said and pulled the towel off the cage to show Tord a raccoon laying at the bottom of the cage. Paul then held out a pocket knife to Tord.  
“You’re not leaving this table before that raccoon is dead.” he said. 

Tord paled and shook his head “No. I can’t do that.” he said, sinking in on himself. Paul laid the pocket knife down in front of him.  
“Yes you can, and you will.” he said. 

Tord shook his head “No. It’s just a raccoon, it hasn’t done anything..” he said. Paul crossed his arms “Well sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to.” he said  
“We’re gonna stay here all night if we have to.”

……….

“We sat there for six hours, I cried like crazy and so did Paul. There was a lot of yelling as well. In the end I couldn’t take it anymore and so I stabbed it..” Tord said, looking at his lap.  
“Paul brought home a new animal every Saturday until I stopped crying about it.. He told me all the animals had already been put down before I even saw them.. It was hard, but I’m glad he made me do it.” he said and looked up at Tom. 

“What happened afterwards?” Tom asked, his brows furrowed. 

Tord looked up at the tiny window, it was too narrow to climb through, Tord had tried. “Have you ever been waterboarded Tom?” He asked.

Tom shook his head “No, can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.” he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 

“I have. Multiple times.” Tord said “They strap you down, cover your face with a washcloth and then pour water over your face.” he closed his eyes “First, the water starts to go into your nose, you start to gag and your lungs fill with water. Your brain is on fire and screaming for oxygen and your throat starts to get swollen.” he looked at Tom again.

“When I was 14, they started to train us in ‘Resistance to interrogation’. It was basically torture.” Tord shrugged “They did all kinds of things to us. Waterboarding, choking, beating us, forced us to stand for hours, electricity, starvation, dehydration. The list goes on.” he said and touched his neck, feeling the ghost of hands on his shoulders. 

“It’s all a blur now, but I remember this one time during a waterboarding session. I was far behind the other kids, I was one of the weaker kids. But I was smarter than them, but intelligence can’t help you in a fist fight.” he sighed and ran his hand through his hair, he was starting to get fidgety thinking about it. 

“We were each given a sentence, if we said it, it meant we couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to prove to them that I could last, that I wasn’t gonna crack.” Tord leaned his head back against the wall.  
“I have no idea how long I was on that table. I wanted to scream my sentence, but I didn’t. At one point the general in charge of us told me I could quit if I was trying to out last the other kids. They’d given up hours ago. But I didn’t.” He continued.  
“I couldn’t. They kept going and eventually I passed out from the lack of oxygen. Patryk was furious..” he said.

……….

Tord was strapped down to a chair, he looked to his side at the other four kids in the room, each one of them bound to a wooden chair with rope, a hand on each arm of the chair and ankles bound to the legs. 

“You’re in enemy territory. Your goal is to get out of your chair. Once you’re free, you can leave.” The General said and looked at the people in lab coats who stood off to the side, each holding a stopwatch. 

“And begin.”

The other four kids each started to fidget and try to kick to get free. Tord frowned and sat still. He looked down at the robes and tried to pull on them a bit to test its strength.

Patryk and Paul watched from the hall through a one way mirror.  
“He’s not trying like the others.” Patryk mumbled and bit lightly on his thumb. Paul gave him a side glance “Give him a moment. Let him think.” he said.  
“Tord’s not like those other kids, you know that.” He took Patryk’s hand into his, intertwining their fingers. 

Tord then started to move his body back and forth, the legs of the chair starting to lift off the floor as his rocking increased. Tord then threw all his weight backwards, and the chair slammed down on the floor behind him, breaking it on impact. The sound of the chair breaking caught everyone’s attention. 

Tord held the back of his head and got up from the floor. The broken pieces of the chair rattled as he kicked it out of the way. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing number 69?!” General Bonedust yelled at him and walked over to stand in front of him, his loud voice scaring everyone in the room. 

Tord frowned “I did like you said. I got out of the chair?” The general was red in the face “You destroyed red army property!”

Tord frowned more and tilted his head, “You said we were in enemy territory. Why should I care about their property?”

“You little.” the general raised his hand and Tord covered his head with his arms, waiting for the hit, but Patryk stepped in before it could land. He stood in the door. 

“Sir, uhm, he just tried to follow the orders. We’ll cover the damages and it won’t happen again.” he said and walked closer and pushed Tord behind him.

The general glared him down, but Patryk stood tall. “He just got confused..” he tried to reason with him. 

The general sighed and rubbed his temple.  
“Just get him out of here.” he said and then glared at the rest of the kids.  
“Do not try to copy him.” he ordered sternly. 

Patryk grabbed Tord’s upper arm and dragged him out of the room quickly. Tord fell over his feet a few times as he tried to keep up with Patryk, with Paul right behind them as they made their way to their private quarters. 

…….. 

Tord kept talking, sharing different parts of his life with Tom, anything from the happy parts to the traumatic things Tord had been put through. Tom just listened and only asked a few questions here and there. The sun was setting outside the tiny window, coloring the room in an orange glow. 

“I still don’t think I did anything wrong with that chair. Paul even called me a genius.” Tord chuckled, but it quickly disappeared again.  
Tom chuckled “I take it that general guy wasn’t your biggest fan?” He asked. Tord shrugged “I didn’t care for him much either so I guess the feeling was mutual.”

Tom stretched his arms over his head “So, you went through all that training, then what?” He asked. 

“As we got older their tests got more complicated. We were given all kinds of tests, everything from disarming a real bomb to survival training.” he said and uncrossed his leg, feeling them going numb.  
“Anyone who couldn’t pass the tests, weren’t seen again. I didn’t know what happened to them, but I now know they were.. Exterminated.” he said and tensed a bit. 

“And you were the only one who passed all the tests?” Tom asked and tilted his head to the side. He looked disturbed at the mention of child murder. 

Tord shook his head “In a way, but no.” He took a deep breath, almost trying to calm himself.  
“When I was 17, there was only me and three other kids left. And we were given a final test.” he said. 

“Which was?” Tom asked and leaned forward, leaning his arms on his knees. Tord was quiet for a moment.  
“A man hunt..” 

……….. 

It was Friday night, Paul and Patryk were walking into the break room, a big group of soldiers was huddled together and loudly yelling over each other. It awakened the pair’s curiosity. They walked over to the group. Paul saw a big pile of money on the table, and a guy with a notepad writing down soldiers names and other notes. 

“What’s going on?” Patryk asked over the group. A woman turned to him, “Haven’t you heard? They’re having the final test on Monday, it’s a man hunt, a real life Hunger Games.” she exclaimed.  
“We’re making bets on which kid is gonna be the next red leader.” she said and pointed at the white board with the four kid’s numbers. All the names on who betted on who was written under the numbers. But no name was written under Tord’s number. 

Paul frowned “No one has betted on Tord?” He questioned. Another soldier, who was sitting down at the table, laughed “That wuss? Come on Paul, the kid is smart, but it’s not gonna help him in a fight.” he said and held up five pounds.  
“I’m gonna bet on that he’s the first to go.” The soldier said. 

Patryk’s blood started to boil. He couldn’t believe how inhumane his fellow soldiers were acting. Three kids were gonna be dead in three days and they were betting on it. Patryk was so angry he didn’t see Paul pull out his wallet and pull out all the money bills in his wallet. He slammed them on the table.  
“I bet everything on Tord.'' he said. 

Patryk looked horrified and glared at Paul. The other soldiers laughed. The one with the notepad wrote it down and said “Okay, but you’re gonna lose it.”

Patryk grabbed his arm “Can I talk to you for a moment?” He asked, already pulling him away. They walked out into the hall and Patryk pushed Paul on the chest.  
“What the hell are you doing? It’s barbaric and immoral, Tord’s life is worth more than money.” he could barely look at him. 

Paul ran his hand through his hair “I know! And I’m with you on that one but… Tord isn’t as strong as some of those other kids. And I’m scared we’re gonna lose him..” He said and looked at his boots. 

Patryk frowned, confused and crossed his arms “Then why bet on him?”

Paul didn’t dare look at Patryk.  
“I thought.. Maybe if I could convince myself that Tord had a fighting chance, I wouldn’t be so worried. Maybe it would help..” he said. Patryk’s face softened, “It still doesn’t make it okay..” he said. 

Paul nodded “I know, but let’s not think about them. Tord must be terrified, and we only have 2 days to prepare him.” he said and hugged Patryk “He’s gonna make it.. I know it.” he said and rubbed his back. 

The weekend passed by too fast for the little family’s liking. Tord was shaking to the bone with fear. Patryk and Paul had done all they could to remind him of all his self dense and the survival skills they’d been taught, but Tord still felt scared. 

He was sitting in a helicopter Monday morning. A backpack full of survival gear had been given to him before he got into the helicopter. He looked at the other kids. They all looked scared. It was weird to think that only one of them was gonna return to the base. They were all wearing green camouflage uniforms, giving them a chance to hide. 

General Bonedust yelled over the noise of the helicopter.  
“Alright kids. Every moment of your lives have led up to this moment. You’ve all been given a bag each with the same materials and supplies. And each of your uniforms have been equipped with a camera to watch you. Your mission is to be the last one alive. We’ll come for you then.” he said. 

“Now, good luck, make the red army proud.” he saluted them. The first kid jumped out for the helicopter after being given a parachute. Tord was the third kid to jump. His hand shook as he pulled on the trigger and it opened up. 

As soon as his feet landed on the ground he pulled the parachute off him and ran, holding on tight to the survival bag. He had to leave the landing site as fast as possible to avoid being tracked. When he was far enough into the woods, he stopped and leaned back against a tree as he panted for air. He ran his hands over his face.  
“Oh god. Okay.. think Tord. What is the first thing you should do? Uhm..” Tord asked himself as he thought 

He opened the bag and looked into it. It contained two water bottles, five ration bars, robe, a survival knife, some matches, and a compass. “Okay, I’ve got enough water to last me maybe two days if I ration it. Normally I should find a water source, but that would make it easier to find me.” he mumbled to himself.  
“I’ll find that when I run out.” he said. “ I should probably try and hide.”

Tord kept walking, trying to stay as calm and quiet as possible to avoid being found. By the end of the day, he ended up climbing a tree to stay in for the night, remembering it was what the main character did in that weird hunger games movie he once saw at movie night with Patryk and Paul. 

From the treetop he could see a lake, so at least his water problem was solved. He used the robe and tied it around his waist and the branch he was resting against. He then pulled out one of the water bottles and ration bars. He wondered how the other kids were doing. What Patryk and Paul were doing right now, were they watching him? Were they eating dinner? Were they worried?  
He fell asleep leaning against the tree, hidden in its branches. 

Patryk and Paul could only watch from behind the screen in the common room. Four sections were shown on the screen, but they only cared about Tord’s section of it.  
“He’s thinking things through. That’s good.” Paul tried to cheer Patryk up, but it didn’t help their breaking hearts. 

Tord was awoken by a scream in the morning. He looked around, it sounded like it came from somewhere close. Maybe he’d been close to one of the other kids. He was frozen with fear in the tree, wanting to wait and see if something else would happen. His gut told him to be on the lookout. And sure enough, almost 40 minutes after the scream, Tord saw one of the kids walking between the trees. 

It was number 42. A big russian kid, he was probably a year older than Tord. He was stronger than Tord as well, and the blood on his uniform made it clear he’d already killed one of the other kids. Tord didn’t dare move. His eyes followed him as he watched him walk through the trees, including the one he was sitting in. Tord waited another hour after he lost sight of number 42, before he finally climbed down with shaking hands and ran the opposite direction to get as far away from him as possible. 

Tord realized that if he was gonna survive he couldn’t just hide. If he was the last kid besides number 42, he’d be hunted. Tord’s only chance was to prepare for it, letting him get the first strike 

He had to make a plan. He walked through the forest looking around to find anything to help him. 

Eventually he found a big and thick branch, too big for him to lift it, but that wasn't a problem yet. It had possibly fallen from the trees over him during a storm. It had a few branches as well, which was perfect for the plan folding out in his head. 

He placed his bag down and found the survival knife and sat down on the branch and started to slice the smaller branches into spikes. It took hours to finish all the spikes. He then found the robe again, he cut it into three pieces. He tied one of the ropes around the end of the branch. He threw the robe over another tree and did the same with the other. He used his weight to hoist the branch up to chest level and tied it around a root sticking out of the ground. 

He heard another scream and panicked. It sounded far away, but the fact Tord could still hear it, wasn’t so reassuring. His heart beated and he tried to breathe slowly and continue his work, his hands shaking lightly. 

Tord used some leaves and sticks to mark a spot on the ground. He then used the last rope and tied it around the middle of the branch and around his waist. He then climbed up into a third tree. When he was high enough he secured the robe over one of the other branches and rappelled himself down, hoisting the branch with the spikes up into the air. He bound the rope around a new thick branch a few times to avoid it getting loose. And then crawled back up into the tree to sit and wait. 

He held his survival knife close to his chest, his heart still beating fast. His hands was starting to blister and his hair stuck to his head with sweat. He drank some more of his water, finishing the first water bottle and two ration bars. His survival brain was screaming at him to ration it, but Tord wasn’t expecting to be in this forest for much longer, be it death or survival.

He sat there for hours, trying to hold his balance without any rope to secure himself with. His body was growing more and more tired, but his mind was still running wild with anxiety. He started to close his eyes, but the sound of a voice woke him up again, freezing him in his spot. 

Tord looked down between the trees and there he saw him, number 42, covered in even more blood than earlier. 

“69!~ come on out! You’re the last one!” He called, a hand up to his mouth, “Make it easy for yourself 69! Come on out and I’ll make it quick. You’ll barely feel anything.” 

The larger boy called, his russian accent could still be heard in his voice. Tord’s hands shook. He couldn’t win in a fight, but he could out run him, maybe he should flee. No.

Tord shook his head. Stick to the plan. He watched the boy, waiting for him to get closer to the mark on the ground. Tord had made sure not to make it obvious. He hadn’t made it look like a red mark or anything. But a stick with a few leaves around it to remind Tord where to aim. 

“Your name is Tord, right? I’ve heard your guardians call you that.” number 42 said, back faced to Tord.  
“My name is Jacob.”

Tord didn’t understand why Jacob was telling him all this. Did he know he was here? Was this a trap?. Tord got ready with his knife, holding it over the robe in front of him. 

“Listen, I get if you’re scared, the others were too. But come on Tord. Let’s just get this over with. Come out and I’ll make sure you don’t feel any pain.” Jacob promised him.  
“You can’t honestly think you can win against me.” he said with a light chuckle, “I’m sure your guardians wouldn’t want you to suffer either.” he stepped close enough to the mark for Tord to start cutting, trying to ignore Jacob’s words

“If you want me to give them a message, I can do that.” Jacob said. 

“I don’t wanna kill you anymore than you want to get killed. But that’s just how the world is right now.” The knife didn’t even cut all the way through before it snapped and the branch with the spikes came flying down. Jacob only managed to turn around and see the branch before it hit him. The two other ropes broke, sending both the branch and Jacob flying back. Tord threw his backpack down on the ground, putting the survival knife in his mouth, holding it with his teeth and climbed down. 

As soon as he was back down he took the knife and held it out in defense. He walked over to where he heard cries of pain. He shivered as he walked around the scene. Blood was running down onto the ground, meaning the spikes had penetrated skin. Jacob couldn’t get up, his arms held down by the spikes. 

Jacob looked at him “I can’t move… Please.. Stop the pain..” he coughed up some blood. Tord tried not to look at it.  
“What?.. W-what should I do?” He asked, the knife shaking in his hand. 

“Kill me.. Please.. It hurts..” Jacob begged, the confidence completely gone. Tord glupped and nodded. 

“Okay..” he said and got down on his knees, placing the knife over Jacobs throat. The whole army watched as Tord’s knife penetrated the skin. Blood sprayed out and ran down his throat, and stained Tord’s face. Jacob started to choke more, tears in his eyes. Tord did what he could to help him, keeping him company as he died. 

His last breath was loud in Tord’s ears and as soon as Jacob went quiet Tord broke down, tears running down his cheeks. He crawled away from the body, resting his back against a tree. He just killed someone. He felt disgusting. He took someone else’s life. 

Tord had no idea how long he sat against that tree and cried, but at some point he heard the sound of a helicopter over him. Getting to the base was all one big blur. He was cleaned off and handed a normal red army uniform. 

……….. 

“That was the first time I actually killed another person. I was pretty out of it.” Tord said and looked at Tom. Tom was speechless, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide. 

“I was put in a real red army uniform and presented for the red leader.” Tord said, picking up the pillow and placing it in his lap. 

“I spent a year under his supervision, he wanted me to make all these decisions, but at that point I had only ever been given orders. It was a mess and I was on edge all the time.” Tord hit the pillow with his hand. 

“They’d made me into this perfect killing machine, but I was falling apart.. Eventually Patryk suggested they send me out in the real world. Get some real life experience. General Bonedust wasn't much for it, but the red leader gave me his approval.” Tord shrugged.

“Paul used the money he won from betting on me, to send me to college, and you basically know the rest.” Tord said and looked at Tom again. 

They were quiet. The silence only made Tord more anxious. Tord took a shaky breath.  
“Say something..” he ordered quietly.

Tom moved his hand over his face, he took a deep breath, trying to take in all the information Tord had given him. As he looked at the man before him, he saw just how vulnerable Tord was. If it weren’t for the burnt scars on Tord’s shoulder and face, he almost looked like a scared kid. 

“You didn’t get a choice?” He asked. 

Tord shook his head and looked down at the pillow, his thumb playing with the tag. 

“No. I did not. I mean.. I’m good at my work. I mean, I was crushing your resistance and I made a difference.” Tord said, his voice getting louder in the end, raising his hand in a fist. He groaned and threw the pillow across the room in frustration.  
“I just.. I have a master's degree in engineering.. In college I thought I’d get to use it.” he said and looked at Tom.  
“Building things was so much fun back then..” he whispered. 

“...Are you.. Okay?” Tom asked and then tapped his own forehead.  
“Mentally I mean?”

Tord shrugged, “I don’t know.. I mean, I’m not psychotic, but.. I do have nightmares.” Tord looked away “I don’t wanna talk anymore..” he said and moved to lay down, facing the wall. 

Tom didn’t wanna push Tord further, he hadn’t even expected Tord to open up to him in the first place. “Okay. Goodnight Tord.” he said. He opened the door and was met with Edd and Matt. 

“What happened? What did he say?” Matt asked, a bit worried, but was happy to see that Tom was okay.  
“You were in there for hours.” Edd frowned, “What did he tell you?” He asked as Tom closed and locked the door. 

Tom didn’t answer them. This was something Tord wasn’t proud of, and Tom would respect that. 

………

Tord was quiet the next few days when Tom came to see him. He answered a few questions, but he didn’t go into much detail. Tom didn’t like that change in Tord, before Tord was at least passive aggressively quiet, now he just seemed depressed. Maybe making Tord tell him all those things had triggered something in Tord’s head. But after a few days Tom thought up an idea to try and cheer the communist up.

Tord didn’t get up as he heard the door unlock, just laying on his side and looked into the wall. Tom smiled as he walked in.  
“Good evening Tord. It’s your lucky day, I have a surprise for you.”

“I’m not in the mood for surprises Tom..” Tord mumbled and pulled the blanket further over his shoulder. 

Tom closed the door.  
“Well just look up at least,” Tom said and walked over to pull the blanket off Tord.  
The norski groaned, “Fint.” he sat up and looked over his shoulder, seeing Patryk and Paul smiling at him besides Tom. 

“Hva.. what are they doing here?” His voice bit at Tom. Tom crossed his arms.  
“I thought you’d like to see them, you sounded like you missed them when we-“ but Tord caught him off, “Well I don’t.”  
He said and grabbed the blanket from him.  
“Leave.” he dismissed and laid back down. 

A shadow of a frown lured on Patryk’s lips, but he kept up a smile.  
“Tord, uhm, we get that you’re still mad, but Paul and I brought you something.” he said and placed a gift, wrapped in tinfoil, in front of Tord’s face on the bed. When Tord was a kid, and they gave gifts to each other, it had to be wrapped in tinfoil, since they technically weren’t allowed to be given gifts. 

Tord thought about throwing it across the room, but decided against it and grabbed it. Paul and Patryk smiled as they saw him unwrap it. It was a book. It had an orange cover and an astronaut on it. 

“‘The martian’...“ Tord read the name and placed it on the desk behind him.  
“Saw the movie. It sucked.” he said, didn’t bother to look at them. 

“Maybe the book is better.” Paul tried to keep smiling. Tord huffed and pulled the blanket over his head like a child, showing he was done with this conversation. “Doubt it.”

“Why are you acting like this? We’re trying to make you happy.” Patryk asked frustratedly at the blanket. That set Tord off.

“Happy? You’re trying to make me happy?” Tord threw the blanket off himself and stood up, he was shorter than Patryk, but that didn’t matter as he glared him down.  
“What would make me happy is you two doing something right for once!” 

Patryk stepped back as Tord only walked closer.  
“Your mission was so easy a dog could do it!” He yelled. Patryk reached the wall, but despite how aggressive Tord was acting, Patryk stayed calm.  
“Your mission was to be loyal and obey me! And you couldn’t even do that! You two always fuck everything up!” 

“Tord, son, calm down. You’re overreacting.” Paul tried to touch Tord’s shoulder, but Tord pulled away, “Don’t touch me! You failed, both of you.” he looked at them both. Tom watched it unfold in front of him, this family breaking apart. 

“We didn’t have a choice.” Patryk tried, but Tord only got more angry, the tips of his ears and his cheeks turning red.  
“Yes you did! You choose to betray me! Just like everyone else!”

Tom lost track of who yelled what, Patryk and Tord stood there in a screaming match as Paul tried to calm them down. 

“We did it because we love you!” Patryk started to tear up, but Tord just kept yelling.  
“I told you to leave me alone, and you couldn’t even do that! I hate you!” 

Tord’s head then flew back and he stumbled backwards, Patryk’s fist held out in the air. Tom managed to catch Tord before he fell, Tord’s back against Tom’s chest. Tord held his right eye in pain and looked shocked back at Patryk with his good eye.

“You, hit me..”

Paul covered his mouth and looked between them, speechless. Patryk was never the ‘bad guy’ when they raised Tord, he was the one to seek comfort from in stressing situations. He’d held Tord so many times when he woke up with nightmares, when the stress was too much for him. He even held Tord’s hand when they had to amputate his arm after the robot blew up. 

Patryk had tears running down his cheeks, his fist shaking as he pulled it back to his chest.  
“..All we have ever done.. Was to protect you..” Patryk whispered and bit his lip as he looked at Tord. “Our mission was, and still is, to keep you safe.” 

Patryk clutched his shirt.  
“I get that you’re angry.. I know you are. But we did what was best for you, even if you don’t see it.” His voice shook, “…You’re our son, and we love you.. But you need help Tord. And I see now that we can’t give that to you..” he said and left. Paul followed him, calling his name down the hall. Tord just watched in silence. 

…….. 

After that incident, Tord stopped talking to Tom completely, and Tom realized he had ruined all his work and had to start all over. 

Tom was sitting in one of the office chairs in the security room. Edd looked over some paperwork with a soldier waiting for him to finish. Edd nodded as he pretended to listen to Tom bitch on. Matt was busy watching the security screens

“I mean, I knew he would be mad at them, but I didn’t expect this.” Tom said and took a sip of his flask. Edd handed the paperwork to the soldier  
“It’s Tord. you have to expect everything from him. All though, Patryk hitting him was not something I saw coming either.”

Tom leaned back in his seat, “Yeah, but Tord is angry at me too. He refuses to talk to me.” Edd laughed, “6 years ago you would have loved that.”

“Uhh guys.” Matt tried to cut in. 

Tom groaned, “I know, but I think he needs help.” Edd crossed his arms, “Help? He’s a narcissistic, manipulative, lying asshole. I don’t know what he told you when you were alone, but I bet he’s lying.”

“Guys.” Matt tried again, reaching over to poke Tom’s shoulder, but Tom brushed him off.  
“Not now Matt.” he scolded, “You can’t read him like I can. I’m not saying he’s innocent, but he’s a victim of the red army too.”

“Guys.” Matt frowned and looked at the screens.  
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you Tom. I just don’t believe Tord is suddenly innocent-“  
“Guys!” Matt exclaimed loudly.

“What?!” They yelled back and turned their attention to him. 

Matt pointed at the screen with the footage of Tords cell, “Tord isn’t in his room, a soldier is laying on the floor and the door is open.” he stressed.  
“He’s loose.”

“What?! Why didn’t you say anything?!” Edd yelled and ran out the door, Tom and Matt right in his trail. 

…………...

Tord had used the book Patryk and Paul gave him to knock a soldier out, who was bringing him food, and he grabbed his gun. He ran down the halls, socks making him slide a bit around the corners. 

He ran into a few soldiers, but despite having only one arm, they were easy to take down. He’d only been out for about 10 minutes before an alarm went off. Took them long enough to notice. 

Tord kept running, trying to find an exit, but it seemed like one big maze of halls. He rounded a corner and got face to face with another soldier. Tord hit him with the side of the gun and then pulled the soldier down by his hair, giving him a knee to the stomach and pushed him onto the floor. 

Tord panted and looked down the hall as he heard footsteps running down the hallway. He kicked the soldier onto his stomach and held him down with his foot, gun aiming at his head. 

“Stay where you are or I’ll shoot.” Tord warned and the group stopped. Edd and Matt both pulled out their guns and aimed at Tord. Edd glared  
“Try me, bitch.”

Tom frowned at Edd and looked between them, “Stop. This doesn’t have to end in a Mexican standoff.” he said and looked at Tord.  
“Tord, you’re making a mistake. Let him go, and we’ll talk about this.” 

“I’m done talking Tom. I’m done playing prison, I’m leaving.” he said and looked at Edd, “Tell me where the exit is and no one has to get hurt.” 

Edd didn’t move a muscle.  
“I don’t think so. You’re staying here.” 

“Why? I already answered your damn questions!” Tord yelled, “I’m no use to you anymore!”

“But you’re still a war criminal! And I decide when we’re done with you!” Edd shouted back at him. 

“You call me a war criminal, but others call me a goddamn hero. I’ve helped people. I changed the world!” Tord glared, pressing his foot down on the guy’s back, but making sure he could still breathe. 

Edd grinned, “Helped people? Tord, you took over entire nations. You were a dictator.” he said. 

Tord glared at him, anger in his eyes.  
“Yeah call me a dictator, just like the rest of those privileged assholes. Calling themselves leaders. Haven’t any of you ever wondered why there’s no signs of resistance from the poor countries?” He asked “It’s because I helped them. My army made their lives better!” 

Tom stepped between them, “Stop it!” 

Edd and Tord glared at each other, but both were quiet. More footsteps could be heard come running, both from behind Edd and Matt, and from behind Tord. He was surrounded. Patryk and Paul pushed past the soldiers in the back.  
Paul frowned, “Tord, just do as they say.” he pleaded, but Tord ignored him. 

Tom turned to face Tord completely.  
“What’s your plan here Tord?” He asked “The red army betrayed you. They don’t want you. There are no free zones anymore. If you leave this base, you’ll be hunted down by both sides.” he tried to step closer, his arms held up defensively. 

“Let me help you.”

Tord looked behind him and saw more soldiers aiming at him. He couldn’t see an exit out of this situation. He gazed at Tom and Edd.  
“Why don’t I just make it easier for all three of us.”

Tord then moved the barrel of his gun to nudge up under his chin. Tom panicked.  
“Tord no! Don’t.” 

Tears welled in the corner of his good eye.  
“Why not? You’re right. The red army gave me a purpose, I’m the red leader!” His hand shook with the gun under his head.  
“If I’m not the red leader then.. Who am I? If I’m not the red leader, then that means everything I’ve done was for nothing.. My life is pointless..”

Tom shook his head, “That's not true Tord. You’re more than a title. We can help you, please, put the gun down.” he pleaded.

Tord sniffed “What’s the point?.. I’ve hurt everyone who's ever cared about me. I’m all alone.. And I don’t blame them.. I don’t blame you.” he said and closed his eyes.  
“Tord no!” Tom screamed. 

Then a gun fired. Edd’s gun.

The bullet hit Tord’s leg, which caused him to flinch, his own gun going off and piercing the skin of his cheek, but nothing else. The soldier took the opportunity to get up, and knocked Tord down to the floor. As Tord hit the floor his gun went off again making a bullet expel into Tom’s shoulder.

“Tom!” Edd then saw red and charged at Tord. He grabbed Tord by the throat and held him down, his body on top of Tord’s waist. 

Tord kicked his legs to try and get him off. His hand dropped the gun and tried to get Edd to let go of him, but Edd only tightened his grip. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t remember any of his training. He panicked. He wondered if that’s how Jacob felt when Tord killed him. Tord hit and pushed at Edd to get him off, but it was useless with only one arm. 

“Edd stop it! I’m fine!” Tom scolded, holding his shoulder as Matt helped him, sitting on his knees, but Edd ignored him.

Slowly Tord’s vision started to blur around the edges, darkness slowly engulfing him into a dizzy state. His kicks grew weaker and slower. His hand fell limp onto the ground along with his legs.

Edd was then tackled off Tord by Paul, he hit him in the stomach and looked back at Patryk, who now cradled Tord’s limp body in his arms. He held up a hand mirror to Tord’s mouth.  
“Is he?..” Paul paled. 

The mirror fogged up and Patryk shook his head.  
“Still breathing.” he said. Paul sighed with relief and looked back at Edd, who was clutching his stomach.  
“You.” His voice sounded like venom.  
“You promised no harm would come to him!” Paul yelled. 

Edd glared, “He shot Tom! He hurt my soldiers! I had to take him down!” He yelled and got back up.  
“You almost killed him!” Paul yelled and tugged his sleeve up, fully intending to start a fight. Edd held his own fists up, but Tom’s voice stopped them. 

“Stop it! Tord is okay, and so am I. We can’t start fighting.” he excused and Matt helped him up.  
“Let’s just get those hurt to the medical bay.” he ordered. The soldiers nodded and went to find their friends and help them. Edd wasn’t happy about this. He wanted to grab his gun and pump Tord full of lead. 

…………. 

The pain was unbearable. Tord withered on the cot, crying in pain. His arm had been throbbing with pain ever since he got out of the remains of his robot, and the pain hadn’t died down, if anything it was more intense now. His bandages were too tight and wet with blood. 

Tord would kill a man for some morphine right now. His fever was making it hard to focus on anything but the pain as well. The only comfort seemed to be the wet washcloth on his forehead. 

His eyes opened and looked up at Patryk as he tried to cool him down. The gentle hand stroking over his hair was nice too. Patryk looked away and Tord followed his eyes over to see Paul talking to a field nurse. They’d run out of morphine long before Tord had even got to the camp, and Tord had used up the last of the painkillers days ago. 

“His arm is infected and I fear if we don’t get him to a doctor soon, it’s gonna keep spreading.” the young woman said as she looked down at a charge in her hands.  
“There’s nothing we can do right now, if he doesn’t get handled soon I’m afraid we’ll lose him.” she shook her head. 

“Then cut it off.” Tord gnarled. All three looked surprised over at him. The nurse blinked.  
“I’m sorry?”

Tord closed his eyes and tried to speak more clear, “Do you have a bone saw? An axe? A saw? Anything sharp?” He asked. The field nurse nodded a bit nervously.  
“Uhm, yes sir, but isn’t an amputation a bit-“  
“Cut it off or so help me god” he bit at her. She stuttered and rushed out a ‘yes sir.’ 

Tord laid back down and cursed to himself. Patryk and Paul shared a look. Paul walked over and sat down on the chair on the other side of the cot.  
“Are you sure this is what you want, son?” He asked with concern. 

Tord grinded his teeth “Either cut it off or put a bullet in me..” he looked up at his dad “I can’t take this pain anymore.. I just want it to stop. ” he said teary eyed from the pain. 

“..Okay.” Paul nodded understandable.

It took a few hours for the nurses to set everything up. The equipment had to be sterilized and cleaned. When the time finally came, Tord was scared. 

Paul made sure to get four strong soldiers to help hold Tord down as they cut his arm off, since the nurse made it clear they had nothing to put Tord out with. Patryk held his healthy hand, trying to comfort him. Paul folded his leather belt and placed it in Tord’s mouth.  
“Just focus on breathing, Tord, it’ll be over soon.” Patryk said and Tord nodded. 

The nurse cleaned off the brunt wound on Tord’s upper bicep and took the bone saw. “Okay, we’re ready.” she said. The soldiers each grabbed a limp to hold down. One on Tord’s shoulders, one on Tord’s stomach, one holding Tord’s infected arm and one holding his legs down with Paul. 

The teeth of the bone saw tug into his skin and Tord bit down on the belt, crying out in pain. The soldiers struggled to hold him down. He screamed curses in Norwegian, switching from russian and english, but no one could understand him with the belt in his mouth. Right before he passed out from the pain, he thought he kicked someone in the face and heard Paul curse, but his vision faded to black. 

………… 

Tord stirred awake. He tried to move his hand, but couldn’t get it far, he tried again and heard a rattling sound. He opened his eyes, his eyelids felt heavy. He frowned lightly and held his hand up to see the handcuff around his wrist. 

“Sorry about the handcuffs. Had to make sure you wouldn’t try and run again.” Tord looked to his right, Tom sat in a chair, shirtless and a self adhesive bandage pad over his shoulder. 

Tord blinked, “Tom? You’re okay?” He said. He felt light headed. His head tilted back and his cheek leaned against the pillow. 

Tom smiled and chuckled, “Of course. It’s just a scratch.” he shrugged, but winched as he felt a slight pain in his shoulder.  
“You actually kinda saved my life. They did a cat-scan to see if anything was broken, and it somehow picked up on a tumor in my head.” he said and tapped the side of his eyes.  
“It’s still pretty small, so it’ll be easy to remove,” he said, and the silence fell over them again. 

Tom looked at the red and purple handprints on Tord’s throat and up to where the black eye on his right eye was fading away. A bandaid was placed over the small cut the bullet had made on his cheek.  
“How are you feeling?” He asked. Tord blinked, trying to shake the dizziness out of his head.  
“My throat hurts.” He mumbled with a raspy voice and squirmed a bit, “And my leg.” 

Tom nodded and smiled slightly, “Yeah I know. Edd kinda lost it.” he said and pulled out his flask and took a swing. He sighed as he put the lid back on.  
“Edd wants to get rid of you. Permanently that is.” he said “But as long as you’re on this base, you’re my responsibility. So you’re safe for now.” 

Tord didn’t give much of a reaction, just watching Tom as he talked.  
“What now then?..” he asked. 

“Welp, you have a master’s degree in engineering. We need someone to fix our vehicles and stuff.” Tom leaned back in his seat.  
“So I have a deal for you. You get to leave your cell and do something you actually like for a few hours, instead of laying around all depressed and shit.” he said and then pulled out an orange pill bottle.  
“But you have to start taking this.” he said and put it down on the small table so Tord could see it.

Tord tried to read the label, but it was a bit too far away for him to make it out. Tom decided to give him a helping hand.  
“It’s antidepressants. I have been in that hole you’re in, and I think you need it.” Tom sighed, “It might make you better, or maybe it won’t. But you’re gonna take it. So what do you say?”

Tord thought for a moment. It would be nice to actually do something and leave his cell. And the antidepressant wasn’t a bad idea either. He looked down at the stub of his right arm and then up at Tom.  
“I’m gonna need my arm.” Tom bit his lip, “I can get you ‘an arm.’” That was good enough for Tord.  
“Deal” Tord grinned. 

Tom smiled, “Good, and you better not bitch about it later.” he laughed. Tord smiled slightly, it was a nice sound to hear. 

A soft knock was heard on the door, and Tom looked over his shoulder.  
“Seems like you’ve got company, so don’t get mad this time.” he said and stood up from his chair and opened the door for Patryk and Paul. 

Tord felt a knot in his throat and tensed up a bit, feeling much more awake now. Patryk and Paul stopped by the end of the bed. They both looked tired. Tom sat back down in his chair, “No yelling this time” he warned. 

Tord opened his mouth, but no words came out. He didn’t know what to say, he still felt angry, but he missed them so much. Patryk and Paul didn’t seem to know what to say either. 

“..I’m sorry..” Tord said, his voice hoarse and quiet.  
“I didn’t mean what I said..” he teared up. Patryk smiled and moved around the bed, taking his hand and running his thumbs over his knuckles.  
“We know, and I’m sorry I hit you.” he said. Tord cracked a smile through the tears.  
“It’s okay… I can’t see shit out of this eye anyway.” 

Paul smiled, “So.. are we good?” He asked. Tord looked down at the hand Patryk held.  
“I don’t.. I don’t know.” he said and took a deep breath. 

“I read the book you gave me.” he said, his throat hurt, but he wanted to change the subject. Patryk and Paul seemed to be fine with that. 

Tom smiled as he watched the small family interact. He was glad the fighting was over. 

……… 

Tord ended up spending a week in the medical bay, the wound in his leg healing up nicely and the marks on his throat slowly fading away, but still clear. Tord’s voice had returned as well. 

Tom was leading him to a garage they had made into a fitting work place for Tord. Edd had only agreed to this arrangement if he put down some ground rules. Tord couldn’t be left alone when he was outside his cell. He had to be handcuffed to the table to avoid him getting loose again. Tord had to take his antidepressant before leaving his cell. And the list went on. But honestly Tord was just happy to do something, and to get his arm back. He’d been promised to get it on when he arrived at the garage.

Tom opened the door into a big garage hall. Two garage doors were at the end of the hall. A few trucks were parked, each covered in scratches and bumps, they all looked like garbage. A work table had been set up and the tools hung on the wall along with a pin board. 

Tord whistled as he looked around, “Not bad, it’s not the dream, but I like it.” he said and looked at Tom, who rolled his eyes.  
“Well, happy to hear that.” he said. 

Tom grabbed the handcuff on the table.  
“But remember, the handcuff stays on.” he said. The handcuff in his hand was connected to the middle of the table, and the chain was at least 5 meters long. Tord rolled his eyes.  
“Ja ja, just put it on and give me my arm.” he grinned excited and held his hand out and Tom closed it around his wrist. 

“Okay, But don’t be mad, Edd and Matt refuse to let you use any other arm.” Tom said and grabbed a closed case and handed it to Tord. 

Tord grabbed it, “I don’t care, I just want a hand…” Tord stopped as he opened the case and looked down at the abomination before him. He was speechless as he picked it up and looked at Tom.  
“You’re kidding right?” He asked. 

Tom shook his head.  
“Nope. I know it’s not what you wanted, but maybe you can upgrade it at some point.” Tom tried. 

The ‘arm’ consisted of two thin metallic sticks, a metal like cup to attach to his bicep and a metal crab-like claw at the end. Tord laid it down again and shook his head “No, I didn’t agree to this. I asked for an arm, not a selfie stick with a pincher. Do I look like Wall-é to you?” Tord frowned. 

Tom sighed and ran a hand over his face.  
“Tord, Edd isn’t willing to give you a hand right now. But if you fix a few trucks, I can try and convince him?”

Tord shook his head.  
“No. That thing is insulting to me. It’s barely a prosthetic. It’s humiliating.” Tord said and placed his hand on his hip.  
“I want my arm.”

Tom’s right eye twitched and rubbed his temples.  
“Tord. Just wear the stupid thing already. You’ll get your arm when Edd trusts you.”  
He said and picked up the arm. Tord looked away and groaned in defeat.

“Ugh! Fint.” He sat down and held his stub out so Tom could attach his arm. 

“You better not call me names. I’m handicapped, so that’s offensive.” he pouted. Tom nodded and as he strapped it on the way he’d been shown.  
“Yeah yeah, low hanging fruit, I get it.”

As soon as the arm was on, Tord moved it and held out both of his arms out in front of him to inspect it. He got up from the chair.  
“The proportions are wrong.. But I’ll live.” he mumbled. 

Tom’s lips curved up into a smile.  
“Good.” he pulled out a list from his back pocket “You remember the deal, right? You can’t make anything on this list.” he said and handed it to Tord. 

“Yeah I know. Jesus, and here I thought I was gonna have fun.” he said, but read through the list 

Weapons  
Bombs  
Prosthetic arms  
Robots  
Lasers  
Teleporters  
Time machines 

Tord looked up at Tom.  
“You guys seriously think I can make a time machine on my own?” He asked. Tom shrugged.  
“Better safe than sorry.” Tord took the list and pinned it on a pin board over that table. 

“I’m gonna start working.” he said and grabbed a few of the tools off the wall and walked over to the closest truck. Tom just leaned back in his chair and pulled out a magazine, guns & ammo. 

…….. 

The music was loud, playing from a radio on one of the shelves over the work table. Tord was bent over the motor of a truck, swaying along to the music. 

“Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did! Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid! I'm still standing after all this time!~” Tord sang along and closed the hood of the car, still dancing along to the music. 

He smiled, swinging his arms over his head, his eyes closed, “The threats you made were meant to cut me down! And if our love was just a circus you'd be a clown by now~” He spun around himself.

“God stop, you sound like a cat playing violin.” Tom said from the door, scaring Tord. The norski screamed and turned around to look at him, completely red in the face.  
“Tom! Don’t scare me like that!” He yelled. 

Tom threw his head back and laughed. He closed the door and walked in.  
“Sorry, couldn’t help it.” he looked around the garage, “Where’s the soldier whose supposed to watch you?” He asked. 

Tord turned the music down and sat down on the stoll by his work table.  
“He got tired of waiting for you to let him go to dinner and left. Real good soldiers you guys have.” he teased and then pointed at the truck he just finished working on.  
“That one should be done now.” 

“Thanks.” Tom rolled his eyes and sat down in the other chair a few feet away from Tord. He watched as Tord started to work on a black device, the screwdriver tightening a tiny screw among the small wires on the side. His gaze then moved up to Tord’s face, the soft smile on his face as he hummed along with the song and the small twinkle in his eyes as he worked was almost hypnotic to Tom. 

“You’re staring at me.” Tord stated matter of factly without looking up from his work. Tom was quick to look away.  
“No I’m not.” he said, feeling a bit embarrassed for being caught. Tord only grinned.  
“But it’s nice to see that you’re feeling better.” Tom said. Tord nodded and smiled.  
“Yeah, I guess the pills are working for me.” They got quiet again. 

“What are you making?” Tom asked, wanting to talk about something else.  
“Uhmm,” Tord spaced, trying to come up with a lie, which only made Tom raise an eyebrow in even more curiosity.. 

“Mmm, ice cream machine?” Tord suggested more than saying. 

Tom crossed his arms.  
“Tord. What is it?” He watched as Tord groaned and ran a hand through his hair “Okay. It’s.. A prosthetic.” he confessed. 

“But it’s not an arm, so technically I’m not breaking any rules.” he turned a bit to look at Tom. He rubbed the back of his head.  
“You mentioned that after your surgery you might not be able to see anything, and I wanted to make you this.” he said and pulled out some blueprints under the table.  
“It was supposed to be a surprise. I don’t even know if it’ll work yet.” he mumbled. 

Tom looked down at the blueprints to see the design of a pair of goggles, different notes written all over the paper and multiple drawings from different angles. 

“Wow, thank you Tord. But you didn’t have to.” he shrugged. Tord smiled,  
“I kinda did. You’ll never hear me say it, but in a way.. I guess you saved me too.” he blushed softly and looked away from Tom.  
“And besides, nothing else sounded interesting to make.” he said. 

Tom returned the smile, “Well, I can’t wait to try them on.“ he said. Tord returned to his work on the goggles, both of them now sitting in comfortable silence and listening to the music. 

Tom eventually called a soldier to bring them some dinner. Tonight’s menu consisted of bread and curry. Tord had his legs up on the work table, one crossed over the other. 

They talked as they ate, a bit of friendly bickering here and there, they shared some old memories as well, about college and after they all moved in together in the house. 

Tord laughed, almost spilling his curry.  
“I did not!” He smiled. Tom finished chewing, “Uh yeah you did, you were practically sobbing over those puppies.” Tom snickered.  
Tord used his palm to dry the corners of his eyes, “Well I’d never seen a real puppy before.” he said in his own defense. 

Tord broke a piece off his bread and dipped it in his curry.  
“And you’re one to talk. You start crying when you drink and watch Christmas movies.” he said  
“They’re just so bad,” Tom laughed. 

Tord chuckled and smiled as he stuffed his mouth again. Tom smiled and finished his plate, placing it on the table.  
“So, you never went to high school, or prom?” He asked, trying to start a new conversation. 

“Prom? That’s those stupid parties where you bring dates and can’t drink?” Tord asked, and Tom nodded in response.  
“Nope, my prom consisted of getting waterboarded,” he took another bite of bread.  
“So that was fun.” 

“That sucks,” Tom said and pulled out his flask.  
“My mom was cool, she gave me my dad’s old flask and filled it with vodka for me. She said I could have it if I promised to drink responsibly and not spike the punch.” Tom showed the flask to Tord.  
“It’s the only thing I have that was my dad’s.”

Tord looked it over, it was first now he noticed the two curved letters, P.R.  
“So.. Did you spike the punch?” He asked. Tom howled at laugh and shoved the flask back into his inner pocket.  
“Hell no. That was my vodka, those idiots could get their own.” he said. Tord chuckled and smiled as he stirred what curry was left on his plate.  
“It does suck though. I’ve always thought the dances looked nice in movies. Being held like that.” he blushed. 

Tom smiled and took out his phone. He typed a few things on the screen.  
“Then let’s dance.” he said.

Tord raised an eyebrow, “What? Right now? Here?” He asked as Tom took the plate away from him and took his hand. Tord stumbled onto his feet. 

Tom turned off the radio and started the music he found on his phone. The room filled with soft tunes from a guitar, and a woman started to sing. 

“Hold me close and hold me fast,  
The magic spell you cast,  
This is la vie en rose.” 

Tom took Tord’s human hand in his and laid his other hand around Tord’s waist. Tord laid the metal claw on Tom’s shoulder. 

They started to slowly sway like that, Tom started to sing along to the lyrics and Tord rested his head on Tom’s shoulder, trying to hide his blush on his cheeks. His heart was racing and Tom could feel it beating along with his own. 

“When you kiss me heaven sighs, And though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose.” Tom gently sang along, but didn’t say anything as he felt Tord take a shaky breath. 

Tom smiled and twirled Tord around, which earned him a soft chuckle form Tord. Tord laid his arms around Tom’s neck and Tom moved both hands to Tord’s waist. Tord had his eyes closed and rested his forehead against Tom’s. They swayed ever so slightly, the chain on the handcuff dangling form Tord’s hand.

“Give your heart and soul to me, And life will always be la vie en rose.” Tom sang softly. The lyrics ended and a soft music break started. 

Tord smiled, “I honestly don’t remember the last time I’ve felt this happy.” he said and opened his eyes to look into Tom’s black orbs. 

Tom cracked a smile “Glad to hear that.” he said. The two looked into each other’s eyes and before any of them realized, their lips touched. 

It started out slow and steady, almost like their dance, but it soon turned more rough. Tord’s hand held onto the back of Tom’s head, and Tom’s left hand travelled up Tord’s back to push him closer to himself. It was like all the tension between them had finally snapped and they couldn’t let go of each other. 

Tom started to push Tord backwards, and before Tord knew it, he was leaning back against the work table, Tom’s knee nudged between his legs. Tord moved the metal claw down onto the table, trying to keep his balance but it slid slightly over the table and pushed a screwdriver to the side. His other hand moved from the back of Tom’s head to cupping his cheek softly. The song faded out and the only sound in the garage were their tumbling around and soft moans. 

Tom moved his hands under Tord’s knees, pushing him the rest of the way onto the table, which made Tord groan slightly into the kiss. Tom let go of one of Tord’s legs to move his hand up and hold the back of his head, his fingers stroking over Tord’s hair. Tord could taste the vodka on Tom’s tongue, and smell his cologne on his clothes. 

When they finally pulled away from each other, they panted hard. Both completely red in the face and grinning like idiots. They looked into each other’s eyes and then laughed.  
“We really never were meant to be friends, were we?” Tord smirked.

Tom shook his head and leant his forehead against Tord’s, his bangs tickled against Tom’s skin.  
”I guess not.” he kissed him again, their noses brushing against each other.  
“And I don’t think I mind.” Tord grinned and leaned in to kiss him again.


End file.
